It's a Long Way Down
by Enthusiastic Fish
Summary: Tony, Tim friendship. Not slash. Oneshot written for the Trip NCIS Flashfic Challenge. Summary: You are my sunshine. What does that mean? Read to find out.


**A/N:** Written for NCIS Flashfic. Prompt: Trip. Tim, Tony friendship. Not slash.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own NCIS, nor do I own "You Are My Sunshine". Why do I say that? You'll have to read to find out.

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**It's a Long Way Down**

By Enthusiastic Fish

"This is all your fault, Probie!" Tony's voice echoed eerily off the sheer walls.

"_My_ fault? You're the one who tripped _me_!" Tim yelled back, his voice joining the cacophony of reverberations, both from Tony's comment and from the splashing water.

"I didn't do it on purpose! You don't have to act like you have boats for feet!"

"Whoa! You didn't do it on purpose? You've got to be kidding!" Tim shouted. "Sticking your foot out and then saying 'be careful' is _not_ an accident!" He unexpectedly splashed Tony in the face with the dirty water.

"You asked for it, Probie!" Tony warned and skimmed his arm across the surface of the water, soaking the part of Tim still above the water.

"Stop calling me _Probie!_" Tim said and then, just as unexpectedly, subsided and sank low in the water. His ledge was much lower in the water than Tony's and less stable. However, their current argument had necessitated as much physical separation as possible. Tony continued splashing him for a few more seconds and then stopped as well.

"Sulking, now?" Tony asked, a nasty edge in his voice.

Tim didn't reply. He looked up to the distant light that revealed the opening in the shaft down which they had both fallen half an hour ago. _How far did we fall? Thirty, forty feet? How in the world did we not die? How in the world are we going to keep ourselves from dying now? Did anyone see us fall? They must not have. Otherwise, they would have said something. No one knows where we are. This mine is riddled with shafts just like this one. That's why we had to investigate in pairs. How are we going to get out? People _die_ in mine shafts!_

Tony watched with growing concern as the silence lengthened and Tim's face grew pale. Still, Tim didn't speak. He just stared upward. Then, suddenly, he slipped beneath the surface and began flailing wildly. Tony quickly jumped off his ledge (on the opposite side of the shaft) and grabbed Tim. He shoved him up onto the ledge and then clambered up beside him. Tim hugged himself tightly and tried to calm down, shaking with anxiety.

"Calm down, McGee."

"I...I'm okay. I just slipped off," Tim said, not making eye contact. "Thanks, Tony. I panicked. I'm sorry," he added in a whisper.

"No problem."

"How are we going to get out of here?" Tim asked, still in the same anxious whisper. Before Tony could say anything, he answered himself. "We're not, are we. No one saw us fall. No one knows where we are. Who knows how far down this shaft goes. I certainly didn't touch bottom. The boards are so rotted that if we tried to climb up, we'd probably bring the whole shaft down on us. People die in situations like this." Tim's shaking became more violent the more he talked.

Finally, Tony, in an attempt to keep his only companion from going nuts, slapped Tim upside the head. "Snap out of it, Probie!"

Tim stopped talking, but the shaking didn't stop. "I told you to stop calling me _Probie_," he whispered after a long silence.

"Stop acting like one then," Tony said. Then, he looked at Tim more closely. "Are you okay?"

"I...I think...I may have hit something on the way down."

"Like what?" Tony asked, now concerned. They'd been so busy arguing that he hadn't noticed whether or not Tim had been injured. Tony himself had been able to fall straight down. It had all happened so quickly that he hadn't seen the path Tim had taken seconds in front of him.

"Like...my ledge," Tim said, his voice still soft. Tony now saw that his right hand was wrapped much further around his body than it should be.

"Let me see, Pr-McGee."

Tim shook his head. "It won't do any good. I haven't even looked at it. What could we do?"

"McGee, are you sure you didn't hit your _head_ on the way down? What if you're bleeding?"

"I am. It's not bad," Tim said.

"Turn around, McGee. That's an order," Tony said sternly.

Reluctantly, Tim twisted his body so that his left side faced Tony directly.

"Move your hand, McGee," Tony said.

Tim did so, and then hissed as Tony lifted the sodden, torn remains of his jacket and shirt to reveal a deep gouge in Tim's side. The area around it was red and purple. It looked bad.

"Yikes, McGee. Doesn't that hurt?"

Tim laughed shortly and then sucked in his breath. "What do you _think_, DiNozzo?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"I told you. There didn't seem much point. What are you going to do about it, Tony? I don't think you carry codeine or morphine or even aspirin in your pockets. Even if you did, they would have long since dissolved," Tim said, still shaking. He turned back around and re-wrapped his arm around his waist. "If you hadn't tripped me, we wouldn't _be_ in this situation," he muttered.

"If you hadn't grabbed onto me when you started to fall, I could have gone for help and you'd probably already be out of here," Tony said lightly.

Tim just grunted, staring straight ahead, not in the mood for jokes. The two of them were silent, the air between them strained. Tim continued to shake, but he didn't speak. He didn't have to. Tony knew what he was thinking. First and foremost, Tim was thinking about how all of this was Tony's fault. Second, he was thinking about the fact that they couldn't get out. Third, which could possibly being moving up in the hierarchy of thoughts, Tim was thinking about how much his side hurt. It was all over his face: the pain, the fear, the frustration.

"You're right, McGee," he said, finally.

Tim jumped and winced at the sound of Tony's voice. "What?"

"You're right. I tripped you on purpose. This _is_ my fault."

"Yes, it is," Tim said, but he didn't sound angry anymore. Tony chanced looking at his face. As he had expected, the frustration was gone. Tim was an odd duck about some things. The situation hadn't changed one bit, but Tony acknowledging his fault made it better. "It probably doesn't matter, though."

"Why?"

"Because, even if we do get out, we'll probably have caught leprosy from this water...or some other form of flesh-eating disease."

"Wow, McGee, you're a bright little ray of sunshine, aren't you," Tony said.

Tim smiled, although it looked more like a grimace. "Well, we could start singing 'You Are My Sunshine' if it would make you feel better."

"No. That's okay."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

Tim shrugged. "I thought you might like the good old memories of camp."

Tony made a genuine grimace. "I should never have even mentioned it."

"No, you shouldn't have," Tim said, grinning and then abruptly breathed out quickly. When Tony reached out, he shook his head. "No, it's okay. I just moved... too much."

"I'm sorry, McGee. Really," Tony said.

Tim looked at him for the first time. "What does Gibbs always say? Don't apologize. It's a sign of weakness."

Tony gave a lopsided smile. "What's a little weakness between friends?"

Tim gave him an appraising look, as if unsure he wanted to say anything. "Are you sure we're friends, Tony?"

Tony was genuinely hurt. "Of course, we are...aren't we?"

Tim looked down again. "Sometimes...I just can't tell." He was quiet for a few seconds and then burst out, "Why can't I stop shaking?"

"It's just the cold."

"I'm not cold, Tony."

"You're not? I am. This water isn't very warm."

"No. I'm not. I'm tired and I hurt, but I'm not cold." Tim looked at Tony and saw an _uh-oh_ expression on his face. "What, Tony?"

The expression disappeared, covered by his usual joking smile. "Nothing. We should probably see about getting out of here."

"Tony..."

"You were probably too pessimistic about the boards. They might not be completely rotten."

"_Tony_..."

"How far down do you think we are? Forty feet?"

"_Tony!_" Tim shouted.

Tony stopped. The smile completely disappeared and that made Tim very worried.

"What?" Tim asked.

"You're going hypothermic. The trauma from your injury has made it more difficult for your body to compensate. I'll probably start going hypothermic, too, but more slowly. The fact that you don't feel cold is a bad sign. You could also be in the beginning stages of shock and I have no way of treating you for that." Tim didn't say a word. That goaded Tony to speak again. "So...we'd better just get out of here, right?"

Tim tried to laugh. "I'm not really in a good position to help."

"True. I guess I'll just have to pull all your weight," Tony said, smiling again. "So, McGee, let's make use of your oversized brain and figure out how we're going to tell everyone where we are."

"Tony..."

Tony blithely shook his head. "Nope, McGee. I'm not going to listen unless you're going to help."

"Tony..."

Tony covered his ears and began singing. "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray."

Tim tried to protest again, but Tony continued to sing and Tim laughed...if he didn't he knew he would cry and that wouldn't do. "Okay, Tony. Stop singing and I'll think."

Tony grinned and stopped singing. "I knew you'd see it my way, McGee."

"I didn't say I agreed, Tony. I just said I'd think. I'm no MacGyver."

"As close as we'll get in here."

"I guess that makes you Jack Dalton then, since you're the one who screwed up and started the episode," Tim retorted.

"Ha ha. Very funny."

"I thought so," Tim said and then considered. "Did you notice any horizontal shafts leading to this one...while you were falling?"

"My mind was elsewhere, McGee."

Tim smiled. "Mine, too. Go figure."

"I'll look now." Securing his hand on one of the sturdier boards, Tony leaned away from the wall. "I think there may be one about...twenty feet up."

"Okay...how about this?" Tim began. "You climb up to that horizontal shaft and try to reach the surface...somehow. Then, lead everyone back here before I die."

"I can see a lot of problems with that plan, McGee."

"Me, too." Tim's shaking was worse. "My mind's not operating at peak capacity."

Tony sat back down and looked at Tim again. He seemed much paler than before. "McGee, do something for me."

"What?"

"Touch your thumb with your pinky finger."

Tim furrowed his brow in confusion. "What? Why?"

"Humor me."

"Okay." Tim lifted his left hand into the air. The shaking was painfully obvious. Then..._very_ slowly, he touched his finger to his thumb. It took him over a minute to do it. When he finally did, he looked up at Tony. "That...was hard. It shouldn't have been."

"Yeah." Tony didn't say what it meant. Tim was heading into Stage 2. "Any other bright ideas?"

"Yeah...we sit and wait."

"Great, McGee. I thought you were smart. _I_ could have thought of that."

"Maybe you should have." Tim tried vainly to control the tremors wracking his body. It wasn't working. "You could always lend me some of your body heat." Tim closed his eyes, feeling tired.

Immediately, Tony knelt down and smacked Tim upside the head. "Oh, no you don't, McGee. No sleeping. Focus. Which do you think is the better plan? Me possibly getting help or waiting for it?"

Tim forced his eyes open and struggled to engage his brain. "Um...I'm getting worse, aren't I."

"Yeah."

"So...how long...do I have?"

"Honestly, I don't know. Probably not more than an hour, at least with you conscious."

"What are the odds that they'll find us in that time?"

"Well, we were off the search grid. We weren't due to check in for awhile. Out of sight of everyone else. It would take a miracle for them to just find us."

"Wh-Why is this up to me?"

"Because you're the one being left behind," Tony said.

Tim smiled. "Okay...okay...Go."

"You sure?"

"Yes," Tim said, nodding. "Just be fast, okay?"

"Only if you do two things for me."

"What are they?"

"First, remember that you really are cold."

"But I don't..."

"I know. That's the problem. Just remember that you're cold; so stay where you are."

"Okay. What else?"

"Sing 'You Are My Sunshine' until I get back."

Tim laughed. "You're joking."

"No," Tony said, smiling again. "I'm not."

"Aloud?"

"As loud as you can."

"D-Deal."

"Okay." Tony stood up and began to test the boards and support beams. "I don't hear any singing, McGee."

"Y-You haven't left yet."

Tony began to climb and heard a soft, shaky voice.

"Y-You are m-my s-sunshine, my only sunshine..."

A board came loose in Tony's hand and fell to the water below.

"Y-You m-make m-me happy when s-skies are g-gray..."

Another layer brought a new challenge: all rotten boards.

"Y-you'll n-never know d-dear how much I love y-you..."

Tony closed his eyes and grabbed a board, hoping it would support his weight.

"P-please d-don't take...m-my s-sunshine...away..."

Tim didn't continue, prompting Tony to shout down, "Keep going, Probie! There's another verse!"

The weak protest echoed up the shaft. "D-Don't call me _Probie_!"

"Then, keep singing!" Tony pulled himself up another level. He could see the horizontal shaft getting nearer.

"Th-the other n-night d-dear..."

Tony reached the opening, heaving a sigh of relief. Tim's singing was a faint whisper far below him.

"I d-dreamt I held y-you in m-my arms..."

"I'm up, McGee! Keep singing!"

"R-right!"

Tony set off, hoping that he'd find help.

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Below, sitting on the ledge, Tim kept singing, although it was more just sort of mouthing the words rather than actually singing.

"But wh-when I w-woke up...I..." _I'm tired_. "...w-was mistaken. S-s-so I hung m-my head and c-cried."

_I'm cold. I'm cold,_ Tim repeated to himself, forgetting to sing again. _Tony said I'm cold. I'm cold. I don't feel cold. I'm cold._

"S-singing..." Tim looked around the shaft. "T-Tony? H-Hello?"

Tim looked down at the water and up at the sky so far above him. He felt like he could just float up to it. _No, Tony said to stay put...and sing..._

"Y-y-you are...my...sun...shine, my only...sun... ...shine..."

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Tony edged through the tunnel, wishing that he had a flashlight. Unfortunately, his was unknown fathoms below him.

"This has got to be the worst backfiring of a joke ever in the history of mankind," Tony muttered to himself. He didn't bother kidding himself that he'd never make a joke again. He knew he would, regardless of the outcome of this. It's just the way he was. Jokes were his stock in trade. He looked up toward where heaven must be. He wasn't really very religious, but he said, "I'd really appreciate getting out of here. You know, for McGee's sake if nothing else, although I want to get out for me, too." Tony came to a place where the tunnel branched. "Okay, which one?" He closed his eyes, afraid to choose. When he opened them, he noticed that the right one looked just a little brighter. "Okay. That's it. Thanks." He ran toward the light which grew steadily brighter.

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"...w-w-wasss..." Tim couldn't remember the next word. _Sing...stay put...cold..._ "...m-m-mi...s-stak... ...en..." His eyes drifted shut.

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"Gibbs! Ziva!" Tony shouted, running and stumbling out of the old mine. Where were they?

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"...s-s-sunn..." Tim struggled to keep singing, although by this point he couldn't even remember why.

"McGee!"

"...sh-shi...nnnne..." Tim felt...something...

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Pulling Tim out of the shaft seemed to take forever. The rescue team had set up as quickly as they could, but it took time...and they wouldn't allow Tony to go back down. He refused to let them look at him until Tim was up.

Tim wasn't shaking when he finally reached the surface again. He wasn't doing much of anything. Tony actually thought he was dead and then, in spite of the seriousness of the situation, one of the paramedics laughed.

"What's so funny?" Tony asked, feeling angry that there could be anything humorous right now.

The paramedic didn't seem to take offense. She just laughed again, not losing any momentum as she prepared Tim for transport. "He's singing...slowly, but he's singing... 'You Are My Sunshine'." Then, Tim was ready to go and they rushed him away.

"He listened to me. Three years we've worked together and for once he listened," Tony said to himself. "Amazing."

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Tony watched Tim as he slept in the hospital bed. He hadn't left since Tim had been transferred from recovery. The doctors were hoping for a full recovery, but they wouldn't know for sure until Tim woke up, and he hadn't yet.

Tony, against all his intentions, fell asleep.

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"Tony? Tony?"

Tony opened his eyes lazily and looked over at...Tim! Sitting up in the bed!

"McGee!"

"Tony, I'm going to kill you," Tim said, a serious look on his face.

Tony deflated just a little.

"I'm going to have that stupid song in my head for the rest of my life."

For just a moment, Tony couldn't think what he was talking about and then, Tim's face split into a wide grin and he laughed.

"If you would just watch where you're walking..."

"If you would just keep your feet to yourself..."

Anyone walking by would assume they were fighting again, but the two men in the room were both smiling, enjoying their unique friendship.

FINIS!


End file.
